Survey: Many Religious 'Nones' Go to Church

Saturday

Sep 16, 2006 at 3:09 AMSep 16, 2006 at 8:53 AM

By ADELLE M. BANKSReligion News Service

WASHINGTON -- For years, researchers have thought the number of people unaffiliated with religion has been on the rise. But new research from Baylor University says some people who were thought to be disconnected are actually in the pews -- they're just not linked to a particular denomination.

Rather than the previously reported 14 percent of Americans who are religiously unaffiliated, the Baylor findings show that a more accurate figure is 10.8 percent. That translates into about 10 million more people thought to be connected to some kind of faith.

"Widespread speculation of this increased percentage of our population that are outside of organized religion really isn't true," said Kevin Dougherty, a member of the team of researchers that released the first findings of the Baylor Religion Survey on Monday.

He and other scholars have found that many of the people thought to be unaffiliated with religion -- the so-called "nones" -- can, in fact, name a congregation to which they belong. And in many cases, they're worshipping at nondenominational evangelical churches.

"By overestimating the nones," he said, "what we've done is underestimate the evangelicals."

The new statistics -- covering topics ranging from religious views and the Iraq war to people's descriptions of God -- provide a detailed glimpse of American faith. The findings are based on data collected by the Gallup Organization in late 2005 and analyzed by the Waco, Texas-based researchers.

Researchers at the Baptist university found that evangelicals comprise 33.6 percent, or one third, of the nation's population. However, only 15 percent identify themselves as "evangelical"; almost half of Americans -- 47 percent -- prefer to call themselves "Bible believing."

The Baylor team found that denominational affiliation was not a major consideration for many of those who were asked about their faith.

"Two-thirds of Americans -- 68 percent -- can give us the name of a congregation, whereas only about half of Americans can give you the name of a denomination," Dougherty said.

That finding highlights a diminished sense of denominational identity, reflected by many congregations that no longer include a denominational name in theis title, even when they are affiliated with one. "A classic example is Saddleback (Church) in Southern California," he said, referring to the megachurch headed by "Purpose-Driven Life" author Rick Warren. "How many people seated in the seats at Saddleback know that they're Southern Baptist?"

On the matter of war, scholars found a dramatic reversal of opinion about the Iraq war compared to views of war in general. Respondents who had attended church weekly, interpreted the Bible literally and were evangelical Protestants were more likely than others to say "war`is always wrong."

But people with those same characteristics were also more likely to say the Iraq war was justified, demonstrating a high level of trust in President Bush.

"You have a population who is really against war in the abstract, much more so than everyone else, but is more willing to justify the Iraq war because of this trust in a certain leader," said Paul Froese, another member of the research team.

"There could potentially be a religious backlash against a war under a different circumstance."

The scholars found that Americans are divided in their views of whether God is angry or engaged in world or personal affairs. However, they found that fear of an angry God is not what draws people into the pews each weekend.

"People aren't scared into church," said Christopher Bader. "They go to church because they believe there's a God waiting for them there who is engaged with the world. But they don't go to church because they believe God's sitting outside looking through the windows and counting heads and getting ticked off at who's missing."

The results of the project, which was funded by the John M. Templeton Foundation, are based on 1,721 surveys taken by telephone or returned in the mail and have a margin of error of plus or minus 4 percentage points.

Scholars also delved into how people identify themselves religiously, how faith relates to the kinds of books and movies people read and watch, and interest in the paranormal.

• 28.5 percent of Americans have read "The Da Vinci Code," compared to 19 percent who have read a book in the "Left Behind" series, 19 percent who have read "The Purpose Driven Life," and 1.2 percent who have read "God's Politics" by progressive activist the Rev. Jim Wallis.

• 57 percent of Americans have viewed "Touched by an Angel," compared to 44.3 percent who watched "The Passion of the Christ" and 6.7 percent who have seen "This Is Your Day!" with charismatic evangelist Benny Hinn.

• 43 percent said they'd had a dream that later came true; 28 percent had consulted a horoscope; 21.5 percent spent time in a place they believed to be haunted; and 12.5 percent had consulted a medium, psychic or fortune teller.